The Fight (Parks and Recreation)

Chris (Rob Lowe) has fired Dennis Cooper, the former health department public relations director, who hung posters around city hall to publicly condemn his adulterous wife. Leslie (Amy Poehler) suggests Ann (Rashida Jones) replace him (mainly so they can spend more time together, as Ann has been so busy dating numerous men and Leslie has been busy in her job). Although reluctant to leave her job as a nurse, Ann agrees to attend the job interview. Leslie provides her with an overwhelming amount of reading material to prepare for it.

Meanwhile, Tom (Aziz Ansari) encourages the parks department to attend the Snakehole Lounge, a nightclub he partially owns with his friend Jean-Ralphio Saperstein (Ben Schwartz), for the unveiling of his new alcoholic beverage, Snake Juice. Tom also encourages them to spread the word about the drink through word of mouth guerilla marketing. April (Aubrey Plaza) shows little interest in attending, until Andy (Chris Pratt) suggests they make a game of it by role-playing as different people at the bar. April pretends to be Janet Snakehole, an aristocratic widow with a dark secret, while Andy poses as his frequent alter-ego, FBI agent Burt Macklin.

That night, at the Snakehole Lounge, Leslie is surprised and annoyed to find Ann partying on the dance floor instead of preparing for the job interview. Ann introduces Leslie to her latest boyfriend, local radio host "The Douche" (Nick Kroll). As Leslie and Ann become increasingly drunk from Snake Juice, Leslie insults Ann's current dating lifestyle. This prompts Ann to insult Leslie for moving too slow with Ben (Adam Scott), to whom Leslie is attracted. The fight escalates throughout the night, and Leslie ultimately claims she always has to keep Ann motivated or Ann would not go anywhere. Both declare it best that Ann not work with Leslie after all and they storm off.

Meanwhile, the Snake Juice proves delicious and popular with the rest of the parks department employees, all of whom become extremely drunk, with the exception of Donna (Retta) who is on a juice cleanse. Chris arrives to warn Tom that using government employees to promote his own personal ventures is a breach of ethics. He tells a disappointed Tom that he must sell his shares of the Snakehole Lounge if he wants to keep his job.

The next morning, everyone who drank Snake Juice is extremely hungover except for Ron (Nick Offerman) and Leslie deeply regrets how she treated Ann. Ben visits Ann at her home and asks her to forgive Leslie. Ann, who also regrets the fight, is touched by Ben's gesture and reveals that Leslie likes him. Ann decides to attend the job interview, during which she and Leslie apologize to each other. After a second interview with Chris, Ann is given the job in a part-time basis (which will allow her to continue her work as a nurse).

Tom reluctantly decides to sell his Snakehole Lounge shares. Tom sells his shares the next morning to Jean-Ralphio. Donna tries to comfort Tom, causing him to ask why Chris did not make her sell her shares, to which she replies that Chris does not know that she owns shares, but makes both Tom and Jean-Ralphio promise not to tell. Ron attempts to convince Chris to let him keep the shares, defending Tom's efforts to branch out by claiming the move was not unethical. Chris is not persuaded. Ron comforts Tom by building him a special case to hold a bottle of Snake Juice.

At the same time, April tries to reprise her role of Janet Snakehole and have Andy reprise Burt Macklin, but a hungover Andy refuses to play, claiming that his character is dead from drinking too much Snake Juice. However, after seeing a sad April walk away, Andy creates a new role for himself: Kip Hackman, Burt Macklin's brother, to cheer her up. He then vomits onto Kyle's shoes.

Parks and Recreation star Amy Poehler (pictured) wrote the script for this episode.

"The Fight" was directed by Randall Einhorn and written by Parks and Recreation star Amy Poehler, the second script she penned for the series after "Telethon" in the second season.[1][2] Filmed in December 2010,[3] "The Fight" was originally broadcast on May 12, 2011, and ran back-to-back with the episode "Road Trip", which aired immediately afterward.[4] The two are stand-alone episodes that were not originally designed to be shown together.[5] However, because the third season premiered late as a mid-season replacement in January,[6][7] the two episodes aired together so the series' season would conclude at the end of the television season.[7][8] The filming of "The Fight" involved a particularly large amount of improvisation among the actors, a common technique among Parks and Recreation episodes. Each actor spent about two days on their own filming their Snakehole Lounge scenes, which included the shots used in a montage sequence that showed how drunk each character had become by the end of the night. Poehler described the filming as "the most fun I've ever had".[9]

Although Ann Perkins was initially conceived as a character outside of city hall who became involved with Leslie and her political world, series co-creator Michael Schur said he believed it made sense that she would take a city hall job because "we just decided that Leslie’s pull would be strong enough to get her to make a move, career-wise". Schur also said it would make it easier for the character to become involved in stories with the others.[10] "The Fight" featured several appearances by actors who had appeared in previous Parks and Recreation episodes, including Ben Schwartz as Tom's friend Jean-Ralphio, who helps him promote Snake Juice throughout the night.[5] Andy Forrest appeared as Andy's shoeshine customer Kyle, who is often insulted and mocked by Andy and the other characters during his shoeshines.[4] Nick Kroll also appeared as "The Douche", the host of the Pawnee morning zoo-style radio show "Crazy Ira and The Douche", which was previously featured in the episode "Media Blitz".[4][8]

During one scene, Ron says, "I won't publicly endorse a product unless I use it exclusively and I really believe in it. My only official recommendations are US Army issued mustache trimmers, Morton's Salt, and the C.R. Lawrence fine two inch style oscillating knife blade." That line was written by Schur, and the scene used in the episode was Nick Offerman's first take, with no mistakes made with the complicated dialogue.[11] Immediately after "The Fight" first aired, a "Producer's Cut" version was made available on the official NBC.com website. It included an additional four minutes of material, that include a previously unaired cold open in which Ron sternly demands to know which employee has broken the parks department's coffee machine; this prompts a fight as the staff make accusations against each other. Ron secretly reveals to the camera that he broke the machine himself, but questioned the other employees anyway to deliberately start the arguments.[12]

Before the credits, Ron mockingly refers to a pig's head on a stick, a reference to the novel Lord of the Flies.

While providing Ann with reading material to prepare for her job interview, Leslie also gives her a copy of the 2010 Jonathan Franzen novel Freedom, claiming she wants to discuss the protagonist Patty Berglund with her.[4][13]

While drunk at the Snakehole Lounge, Ben says the words "baba booey" and starts laughing. The phrase is a nickname for Gary Dell'Abate, a radio producer with The Howard Stern Show, and became a common catchphrase among Howard Stern fans.[8][14]

Wikiquote has quotations related to The Fight.

• "The Fight" at the official Parks and Recreation site
• "The Fight" at IMDb